September 15, 2007

Co-Executive Directors Peter Kosinski and Stanley Zalen
Commissioners and Co-Chairs Neil Kelleher and Douglas Kellner
Commissioners Evelyn Aquila and Helena Moses Donohue
New York State Board of Elections
40 Steuben Street
Albany, New York 12207

RE: Certification testing fee -- waiver for 100% open-source, free software that run on COTS hardware

Dear Commissioners, Co-Chairs, and Co-Executive Directors:

New York State should waive the certification testing fee for voting system software offered to our state for free, which is 100% open source and that runs on Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) hardware.

Our state interest and the public would be served because we need an alternative to privatization of our public elections. Free, 100% open source voting system software would give our state full ownership and control of our voting technology.

The major vendors have long histories of irresponsibility, and their future is unknown. In the last year Sequoia could not find a new buyer, and Diebold distanced itself from its voting system division and renamed it. The fee waiver policy would help create an alternative and would give our state security and independence from the future problems of private vendors.

Respectfully,